With the winter weather rolling in, soup season is in full swing!
Two of our crew were feeling under the weather (praying it’s just a cold 😬), so I decided that Chicken and Rice soup was perfect for dinner.
I looked at a couple of recipes online and modified them a little bit. It’s super easy to make and the best part is that you can make it in under an hour!
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 yellow onion minced
3 carrots peeled and diced
1 1/2 stalk celery diced
1 teaspoon garlic minced
1 teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
5-8 cups low sodium chicken broth (you may have to add more as you let the soup simmer)
3 chicken breasts (I used the breast from 2 Rotisserie’s)
1 cup white rice
2 Limes squeezed
1 Cup of evaporated milk (optional)
Instructions
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot.
Add onion, carrots and celery and cook and stir for 5-7 minutes or until onion begins to turn golden.
Add garlic, parsley and thyme and cook 1 minute.
Add salt and pepper, broth, chicken.
Add rice. Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
Stir every 10 minutes or until vegetables and rice are tender.
Add 1 cup of evaporated milk (optional).
Enjoy and serve!
I hope y’all have a wonderful Tuesday! Only three more sleeps until Christmas!!
Today I am hopping on real quick to give you a quick lunch idea. As you know, I follow the “if it fits your macros” plan (IIFYM). Instead of counting calories, I track macronutrients (protein, fats and carbs) everyday. I’ve been doing this on and off for almost four years and find that this is what works best for me.
You can adjust your macros depending on your goals. I love the flexibility of being able to make my food work for me if that makes sense.
I do work with a coach. I haven’t always worked with a coach, but I find that it keeps me accountable and guides me in the right direction. My coach is awesome. She provides a food plan that I can follow on days that I don’t want to figure out my own meals. But most days, I love being able to decide what I want to eat and how to make it “fit.” This gives me a little more freedom when we are busy and eating out more.
Every morning, I input all of my food into the My Fitness Pal app and it calculates it for me. This helps me plan out my day and stay on plan.
I often get asked what I eat because it sounds like this would be a hard plan to follow. But it’s actually quite simple once you get the hang of it. And it’s amazing to see how the science behind it really does work!
I’m currently on a reverse which is when you gradually increase your calories throughout several weeks or months to help boost metabolism. In addition, the reverse can help normalize hormones. After cutting food for so long, your body begins to adjust to the number of calories you are taking in and it will plateau. Like I said, science behind this is incredible. I shared a little bit of this on my Friday Favorites post a couple of weeks ago.
So far the reverse is going great! My coach shared a post on Instagram earlier this week with a small spotlight and my before and current pictures. You can see it here.
It’s amazing how I’m eating double the calories from when I first started working with her and I’m seeing some crazy results. It really makes me excited for cutting season!
But anyways! I shared allllll of that to share with you a quick and easy meal that is on repeat at my house. It’s delicious, super easy to make and fits in my macros perfectly.
It’s nothing glamorous, it’s just a rice bowl! Depending on what you need to hit your macros you can add or take away some of the ingredients. You can replace the rice with shredded lettuce which is what I do when I have less carbs in my numbers. You can also add black beans if you need more carbs. The avocado can be added or taken away depending on your numbers as well. It’s very flexible!
Here is what I used to make this one:
I actually suggest using basamati rice. You can get more rice for less calories. But because I have more calories at the moment, I used jasmine rice. Y’all. You put this in the microwave for ONE minute!
Then…
I add rotisserie chicken. I buy two of these at a time and they last me a couple of days. It’s great to have it on hand on days when I am rushed!
I add in avocados and lots of lime!
And then top it off with this salsa that is so good!
If you need some extra fat and protein you can add shredded cheese.
And voila!
I’m always hesitant to share these easy meals because I assume everyone already knows about them. But then I think about how they help me when someone shares them.
Eating healthy isn’t hard. Actually, it can be quite easy! Even if you aren’t ready to count macros or calories, you can still make positive changes in your nutrition that can make a huge difference!
I struggle with getting hungry in between meals. I normally let myself get so hungry I feel sick. Because of this, I am always looking for healthy snack ideas. I don’t know why I struggle so bad with snacks. I know what healthy snacks I should have, but instead I reach over for the Oreos or the bag of chips. I eat this snack almost everyday. Either in the afternoon or in the evening after the kiddos go to bed.
It is super easy to make!
I use the Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Greek Yogurt add in about 1/2 tbsp of Earth Balance Creamy Peanut Butter and then top it off with a 1/2-1 tbsp of the mini chocolate chips. I love these chocolate chips because they are dairy, nut and soy free.
If you are like me and need something to calm the sweet tooth monster down, pick up these three items at the grocery store and enjoy! I promise, it is so so good!
Kiddos + Sports every night=craziness! I don’t know about you, but we are busy around here. Between football and softball practices and then games we have something every night of the week and on the weekend too! Jojo practices at 7:15 and the girls practice at 6. This leaves us trying to figure out what time is best for all of us to eat dinner. We normally shoot for 5:30, but that doesn’t always happen. We end up driving thru somewhere and opting for quick and easy. Fast food is so easy and convenient and I’m so tired haha. If I’m not careful we will eat it every night. Totally not judging those that do this, but this girl can not eat fast food every single day!
Early this year, Joseph and I were on a cut and most of our dinner meals included a lean meat with veggies. Being on a cut means that you eat at a caloric deficiency and eat a certain percentage of protein, fats and carbohydrates. I will explain this in a separate post soon! We experienced great results on our cut, but after six months, we were both ready for a change. I love using a crock pot for my meals. Especially in the fall and winter when we seem to be super busy. If I can make it early in the morning and leave it in the crock pot all day-that is a win in my book.
Joseph and I decided to take some time off from our cut, but still aim to eat healthy and clean meals. Now, please don’t think we don’t eat out or cheat because we totally do! I am at the Dairy Queen drive-thru a lot ha! But balance right?!
After eating lean meats and veggies for six months, I wanted to add a little more variety to our meals, but still try to eat as healthy as possible. I was so excited to find this recipe on the Whole 30 Recipes FB Page.
It did not take long at all to prepare. At the most maybe 30 minutes. I cut up the sweet potatoes, cooked my meat, added all of the ingredients and then put it all in the crock pot to cook during the day. When it was cooked and ready to serve, I added avocado slices, cilantro and lime juice with a little salt and pepper. The chili was good on its own, but adding the toppings completed the meal. So so good!!
As I find new meal ideas and try them, I will definitely share them. My sister has requested that I put out a meal plan each week to help her stay on track and know what to eat each night. Maybe I can get started on that in a few weeks.
Here’s to fall and fall weather hopefully coming soon!
